Hungary: PM Orban must sign agreement with CEU University in Budapest and stop obstructing academic freedom.

Ahead of today’s European Summit in Brussels, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe have called on EU leaders to put pressure on the EPP Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to stop him obstructing an agreement, which would allow the Central European University in Budapest to provide education also in the US, as required by a new Hungarian law.

Guy Verhofstadt declared: “The Central European University has done all it can to comply with an invasive new Hungarian Higher Education Law; New York State has negotiated an agreement with the Hungarian government which would allow the CEU to provide for education also in the US, as required by Prime Minister Orban’s new law.”

“Instead of signing this agreement, it seems Prime Minister Orban now intends to prolong a legal deadline, which will drag out proceedings unnecessarily, a move which will have potentially detrimental consequences for the faculty, staff and students.”

“EU leaders must today speak out in order to put pressure on Mr Orban to stop his prevarication, which represents a continued attack on academic freedom. There is no place in Europe for Prime Minister Orban’s attacks on educational facilities. EPP leaders, who are all too happy to provide him with legitimacy, have a responsibility to speak out in particular. This is about academic freedom, about safeguarding one of the best universities in the world – and safeguarding it in Budapest.“